Fouke/CPTN Uzncwz — Sasquatch Bloodlines
The white shelled cassette features small stuck on labels on each side- then this comes in a clear case, with a single side monochrome cover taking in murky/inversed Bigfoot illustrations. Also, featured is a razor blade in a cardboard sleeve- this has each projects name on either side, and label sticker. I’m not sure how many are made of these, but I’m guessing they’ll go fair quick because of the Fouke side- so I’d act sooner, than later if I were you.
If you even have a very vague interest in either walled noise or US noise you’ll know the name Richard Ramirez. He’s been active since the early 1990s, first( and still) with his legendary dense, often jam-based harsh noise/ mixed noise genre project Black Leather Jesus. Then with his seminal & highly inferential Werewolf Jerusalem project- where since the early 2000’s he’s been releasing often moody-yet-still brutal walled & textured noise. He has multiple project names he works under, but one of his most beloved & respected is Fouke- the project has been going since 2009, putting out nearing thirty releases all of which have been themed about different variations of bigfoot- the project takes its name from the Texarkana town where numerous sightings of the Bigfoot have bee made, and where also the classic film Legend of Boggy Creek was filmed.
The 30.48 track is entitled "Living Among The Beast" and it opens with a brief screaming & beasts sounds, then we’re are into ‘wall’. We find a very roughshod & crude take on the genre, with a muffled & rapidly battering tone, that's laced with a building line of rumbling 'n' meaty low end. The whole thing perfectly captures both a feeling of brutality & tension as if you running through the thick & dense woodland away from your lumbering Sasquatch assailant. As the ‘wall’ moves on Ramirez expertly & subtle reins in the textures to a thinner tunnel of sound- with the battering tone narrowing, and the low-end hollowing out in a wonderful moody manner. At the seventh minute mark- we sudden switch ‘walls’, and we find a lot tenser & tight bass rumble, with a very slight & edgy crackle on top- here it feels very much we’re inside the Bigfoots cave or underground tunnel home, been drag along through dank & musty half-light. Once again as this ‘wall’ carries on we get very subtle & mood-building adjustments made to both textures- with more eerie snaps & weird on/off droning been added to the mix. At around the 11th minute the more roughshod feel returns- as we find a blunt rattling tone been added, and the tense & taut sub-bass starts to rise once again- and as these elements progresses, once again we get nicely atmospheric & tension building adjustments made- within the tracks last few minutes Ramirez expertly blurs and fades the textures in a most satisfying & subtle dramatic manner. I don’t think I’ve ever felt short-changed or let down by anything under the Fouke banner- and once again this track is another masterful example of atmospheric, yet damn brutal wall noise.
Moving onto the second side of the tape, and we of course have CPTN Uzncwz track- this project has been active since 2017- releasing around eighteen release, and all of the output of this project is themed around nature and scientific matters. The track is entitled “Bigfoot-Human Hybrids”, and its rolls in at spot on the thirty-minute mark. The track starts out with a blend of hazed rattle ‘n’ sluggishly buffeting bass tones- at times there is almost a murky groove forming with the bass elements, but as the 'wall' goes on this becomes less defined & more random in its blunt-yet-panned darts. As the ‘wall’ carries on it feels like the whole thing starts to tighten & speed up- moving from the loose sluggishness- to more battering attack- yet still you can make out that occasional bass bob occurring. On the whole, this feels less defined & nuanced in both its textures, and it's arrangement to the first sides wall- we do get shifts with the tightening & speeding up of both textures, and towards the last quarter slowing once, but these are fairly minimal- with no great structural shifts occurring. On the whole, I certainly enjoy the whole feeling of battering rapidity much of this ‘wall’ has, and that bass throb keeps you locked in- I just felt the structure of the whole thing often felt too hazed/ blurred meaning my attention did start to wonder at moments- in finishing the track did summon up feelings of been chased by a more bounding & pacy Bigfoot say over a more barren landscape- so it does fit its theme.
Sasquatch Bloodlines is a somewhat unbalanced split with the excellent Fouke track on side one, and the interesting though slight concentration losing the second side track from CPTN Uzncwz. But a lot of this feeling of un- balancement is maybe down to CPTN Uzncwz coming after the Fouke track, & if this it had either appeared on its own or first then I feel it wouldn't feel so let down by the CPTN Uzncwz track, find it an effective enough example of rapid ‘n’ blurred walled noise matter.